The purpose of this site
Welcome to the Dutch East Indies Site. This website is dedicated to the study of the Japanese Invasion of the Dutch East Indies (DEI) in 1941-1942. In many History books, for whatever reason, the Japanese Invasion of the Dutch East Indies is barely mentioned. Hopefully, this site will provide much more in depth and detailed information on these hostilities than has been provided elsewhere in books.

It is provided for research and educational purposes only and is not intended to glorify war, any particular country, or political agenda. Unfortunately, as some of the battles were fought in remote jungle locations of the Netherlands East Indies, we only have the reports of survivors to tell us their version what actually happened.

Also, the speed of the Japanese advances in the Netherlands East Indies meant that many historical records that could have useful in studying this struggle were lost or destroyed. However, the contributors to this site have endeavored to enlist as many resources as possible in reporting on this conflict. In order to provide a multi-national perspective on this forgotten campaign, several researchers from different countries have contributed articles that report on the different military aspects of this theatre of operations in World War II.

- Netherlands East Indies (NEI)
- Dutch East Indies (DEI)



The founders of this site
The Dutch East Indies Website was officially opened for the first time in July 1999 under the name The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941-1942. The website was created mainly because of scattered information in books and due to the lack of internet space about this "forgotten campaign" of World War II and men who fought across the island studded seas of the Pacific theatre, and to remember those that perished during the conflict.

The first obstacle was facing serious problems and enormous difficulties with finding available information needed to be researched, and there was also difficult to find many books by the belligerants related to this campaign, especially about the ground actions in the remote parts of the Dutch East Indies, such as Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands and Dutch New Guinea.

The response of the readers was enormous. There were days when my e-mail inbox was literally jammed with all kinds of messages supporting our site, requests for help, where to find information about their fathers, grandfathers and others related persons, and encouraging us to expand the site with new fresh information, photos and maps.

Several new faces joined us and together we started to produce a new exciting website. The collecting of information and photos became our obsession for more than a year and in this time have managed to gather a lot of new information and photos about the campaign, all displayed now on this new expanded site. Many more sources have also been provided by an enourmous number of fellow researchers from all over the world, and World War II Veterans from USA, Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Who are the founders of this website? The site was originally an idea and creation of four World War II history researchers, each coming from a different country and in some cases even from a different continent (Europe-North America-Oceania). Their names are:

  • Daniel W. Muir from United States of America   USA

    Graham Donaldson from Australia   Australia

    Jan Visser from the Netherlands   the Netherlands

    Klemen L. from Slovenia   Slovenia

    Plus several other military history enthusiasts and computer wizards who have helped to solve quite a few dozen problems and hiccups that were faced with during the construction of the new website. So we would like to thankfully acknowledge their assitance;

    Allan Alsleben
    Akira Takizawa
    Henry Klom
    Tom Womack
    Jim Paterson
    Bert Kossen
    Leland Ness
    Pierre-Emmanuel Bernaudin
    James A. Broshot and many others.


  • The graphics on this site
    The graphics (banners and icons) for this website have been provided by Martin Spirit, the ghostly webmaster of WII Banner Billet. He makes marvellous banners, icons and animations for all kinds of history connected websites. Please take your time and visit his wonderful site where you will also find plenty of World War II related banners and icons.

    WII Banner Billet


    Copyrights
    I would like to seriously point out here some information about the copyrights for all those who are interested in using information from this website. All stuff can be used for free, except those where it is specifically states that without the permission of the author you cannot use or copy the researched material. It is also prohibited to use any interviews which I have had recorded from veterans for intended websites or even worse written into books! Please be fair and courteous towards hard work and dedication and don't steal. If you need something don't hesitate to ask and we almost never say "no" to genuine requests. Just don't plagerise or steal. It is cowardly, irresponsible and diminishes not only yourself but our unique website we have jointly combined to present to all the world.


    About Slovenia ...
    Below, I have provided some links for anyone who would like to explore my country - Slovenia. If you are looking for any kind of information about Slovenia, then these are the links for you!

    · Slovenian Tourist Board
    · Photos of Ljubljana
    · Lonely Planet: Slovenia
    · Slovenian Coast

    Thanks to Terry Cestnik, State of Montana, USA


    About me ...
    Note I am sure that some of you may wonder why I don't sign myself with my full surname. The reason is quite simple. The fonts currently available in the computer world do not allow using all the correct letters used in the Slovenian alphabet. Perhaps some day the miraculous language of HMTL will also allow proper spelling of Slovenian names readable on all browsers.



    Credits
    The following people have contributed their time and knowledge to make this site possible. Thank you all !

    Am I missing here? Contact me !

    Adrian Fryatt  from Australia
    Akira Takizawa  from Japan
    Allan Alsleben  from USA
    Allan G. LeBaron  from USA
    Alberto Rosselli  from Italy
    Allyn Nevitt  from USA
    Amanda Johnston  from United Kingdom
    Antonio Martins  from Portugal
    Bea Stephan  from the Netherlands
    Bert Kossen  from the Netherlands
    Bertrand Daubign  from France
    Bram M. Otto  from the Netherlands
    Carl Hasbrink  from USA
    Chuck ''Whitey'' Herzog  from USA
    Coen van Galen  from the Netherlands
    Conor Savoy  from USA
    Danny O'Hara  from Great Britain
    Derek Hewett  from Great Britain
    Denise Hewett  from Great Britain
    Don Clark  from Australia
    Eddy de Bruyne  from Belgium
    Edward Gardner  from USA
    Felix A. Sint  from the Netherlands
    Franc Forjan  from Germany
    Frans Th. Smits  from the Netherlands
    George Duncan  from Australia
    George Visser  from the Netherlands
    Gerard Horneman  from the Netherlands
    Henrik Krog  from Denmark
    Henry Klom  from the Netherlands
    Hidde Stauthamer  from USA
    Iain Donaldson  from Australia
    Ivan Forjan  from Germany
    Jacques Jost  from France
    James A. Broshot  from USA
    James Paul  from Great Britain
    Jim Paterson  from Australia
    John P. Brown  from USA
    John Wilson  from New Zealand
    Jorge Candeias  from Portugal
    Julie Hansen  from Australia
    Katsuhiro Uchida  from Japan
    Leland Ness  from USA
    Dr Leo Niehorster  from USA
    Lynna Kay Shuffield  from USA
    Martin Pytr  from Czech Republic
    Mary-Lou Considine  from Australia
    Michael Miller  from USA
    Michal Warczakowski  from Canada
    Mike Yaklich  from USA
    Miltiades Varvounis  from Greece
    Mislav Miholek  from Croatia
    Nuno Miguel A. De Oliveira  from Portugal
    Paul Clayton  from Australia
    Pen Brown  from New Zealand
    Pierre-Emmanuel Bernaudin  from France
    Richard Pelvin  from Australia
    Robert Brougham  from USA
    Rod Sercombe  from Australia
    Roger Mansell  from USA
    Santiago A. Flores  from USA & Mexico
    Stephen Hagen  from Great Britain
    Tadashi Karasawa  from Japan
    Tim Hayes  from USA
    Tim Trueblood  from USA
    Tomasz Besarabowicz  from Poland
    Tom Womack  from USA
    Val Poss  from USA
    Vic Campbell  from USA
    Vincent O'Hara  from USA
    Yoshio Umetani  from Japan



    Veterans
    During the creating of The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942 Website I have talked with several Dutch, British, American and Australian veterans and other people who lived in the Dutch East Indies during that fatal period and I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank them for their unselfish support, kind words and providing the valuable information, which also make this site possible.



    the Netherlands

  • Adriaan Kannegieter
     Koninklijke Marine, Dutch East Indis 1941-1942 Frans Zantvoort
     Koninklijke Marine, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 John Franken
     MLD, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Bert Modderman
     KNIL, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Albert Burgman
     KNIL, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Peter Thysse
     KNIL, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 † Albert Vandermost
     Dutch Marine Corps, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Felix Bakker
     Dutch Marine Corps, Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Arie Biemond
     lived in Dutch East Indies 1933-1945 Bram Eweg
     lived in Dutch East Indies 1929-1946


    Great Britain

    Cyril Morris
     RAF, Java Island 1942 Cristopher Briggs
     HMS Scout, Dutch East Indies 1942


    Great Britain

    Ronald Ashton
     RAAF, Sumatra and Java Islands 1942 † Alfred Hansen
     HMAS Perth, Dutch East Indies 1942


    Great Britain

    Rodney Guidry
     USS Alden, Dutch East Indies 1942 USN Admiral (ret.) Robert Fulton
     USS Houston, Dutch East Indies 1942 Raymond Kester
     USS Marblehead, Dutch East Indies 1942 William Penninger
     USS Pope, Dutch East Indies 1942


  • Bibliography . Article List . Geographic Names
    Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942
    Copyright © Klemen. L. 1999-2000

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